House-door letter-box



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H.v W. LIBBEY.

- HOUSE DOOR LETTER BOX. No. 459,386. Patented Sept. 8, 1891.

Fig.1. Fig.2.

Y LETTERS Q & may

' 3 Sheets-Shet 2.

H. W. LIBBEY. HOUSE DOOR. LETTER BOX.

No. 459,386.- Patented Sept. 8, 1891.

(No Model.) 3 Shets-Sheet 3.

H. W. LIBBEY.

HOUSE 1100a LETTER BOX.

No. 459,386. Patented Sept. 8, 1891.

Fig.4. F55. Fig.6.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HOSEA WV. LIBBEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

HOUSE-DOOR LETTER-BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 459,386, datedSeptember 8, 1891.

Application filed July 16, 1890. Serial N0. 358,952. (N0 model.) I

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HOSEA W. LIBBEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Letter-Boxes, ofwhich the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification.

' The object of myinvention is to produce a letter-box particularlyadapted for a private house, and which cannot be tampered with from theoutside nor by any one inthe house without giving an alarm.

The invention consists in forming the box in two compartments, an upperand a lower one, the upper one being provided with doors through whichthe postman deposits the mail upon flaps that cover the lowercompartment, which flaps are caused to open and let the mail pass intothe lower compartment, when the doors of the upper compartment close, ashereinafter fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a view of aletter-box embodying my invention as it appears on the outside of thedoor. Fig. 2 is asimilar view of the rear of the box. Fig. 3 is alongitudinal section through the box. Fig. 4 is a vertical section takenon line 00 a; of Fig. 3, looking in the direction of the arrow. Fig. 5is a vertical section taken on line y y of Fig. 3, also looking in thedirection of the arrow, showing the doors of the upper compartment openand receiving a letter. Fig. 6 is a similar section showing the letterpassing from the upper to the lower compartment. Fig. 7 is a horizontalsection taken on the line 2 z of Fig. 3. Fig. 8 is a detail view.

The box is of a rectangular form and consists of two compartmentsdivided by flaps.

A represents the upper and B the lower compartment. The upper oneprojects forward of the lower one just the thickness of the door 0, towhich it is attached.

The front of the upper compartment is closed by two doors D, hinged tothe sides and kept in the closed position by springs E. At the rear ofthese doors is a platform or shelf 6 just the width of the thickness ofthe street-door O, and at the rear of this platform e are two flaps F,hinged to the sides of the box and each closed by a spring G. In theforward end of these flaps is cut a curved slot g, which is enlarged atthe ends of the plates, as shown in Fig. '7, and to the rear of thedoors D are pivoted short rods d, having at their outer ends studs thatwork in the slots 9. The studs are provided with heads that workon theunder-side of the flaps to prevent the flaps from being pressed down,except when the doors D are closed, when the heads on the ends of therods d will be drawn forward into slots in the platform e and clear ofthe flaps F, so that the latter are free. These flaps F are opened asthe doors D are closed by the doors coming into contact with a press-barH, that stands at a short dis tance above the platform 6, the lower endof which is hinged tothe outer end of a bellcrank lever I in such mannerthat they are free to move back, when the doors D, on being opened comeinto contact with them and they are raised to their normal position bysmall springs h as soon as the doors have passed over. Small slots e areformed in the platform 6 to allow for the backward movement of saidpresser-bars fulcrumed at t, the other end of which is connected to acrossbar J, fulcrumed at its center 3', the other end of which isconnected to another bell-crank lever K, fulcrumed at is. To the otherend of this bell-crank lever is secured one end of a connecting-bar L,the other end of which is connected to a lug on the under side of theflap F, so that when the piece H is pressed down the bell-crank I raisesthe end of the cross-bar J, to which it is attached, the other end ofwhich draws down the end of the bellcrank K, and with it the bar L andflap F, and allows the letter Z to fall from the upper compartment Ainto the compartment B.

The rear end of the lower compartment is closed by a door M, formed inone with, the bottom N and hinged at m. The bottom is provided withsides n and end n, and is of such a length that when the door M is fullyopened the bottom N will stand perpendicu lar, throwing the letters uponthe inner side of the door, from which they can be removed, and as soonas the door is released it is closed by a grasshopper-spring, such asshown in Fig. 8, and similar springs may be employed instead of flatsprings for closing the door D and flaps F.

When the doors D close, an alarm is sounded by the gong P in thefollowing manner: To the cross-bar J is hinged a short piece Q. Thispiece is free to swing in one direction only. The end of this piece Qcomes in contact with the upper end of the lever B, when the presser-barH is forced down and causes the upper end of the lever B to be pushedover and the lower end thrown in the opposite direction. This lower end,is by a connecting-bar S, attached to a bell-crank T, the outer end ofwhich is provided with a hammer that strikes the gong P, thus giving analarm that letters have been placed in the box. Springs U force thelever B to its normal position. An alarm is also sounded when the door Mis opened or closed by means 'of a tail-piece V, coming into contactwith the bell-crank lever W, that carries a hammer whick strikes thegong P. Springs 00 0c keep the lever W in its normal position. The boxis secured to the inside of the door by screws passing through lugs a.

Y is a face-plate secured to the front of the door by means of screws,as shown.

If desired, the door M might be provided with a lock l\/ as shown indotted lines in Fig.

The operation is as follows: To insert a letter, the doors D are pressedback and the letter Z placed in the upper compartment A. It then restsupon the flaps F. As soon as released the doors D are closed by thesprings E, and in passing out the presser-bars H force them down, whichlowers the flaps F, allowing the letter Z to fall into the lowercompartment B, at the same time causing the gong P to be sounded, asbefore described. To remove the letters from the compartment B, the doorM is drawn down, and the bottom N, being in one therewith, risesandthrows the letters onto the door M, from which they are removed atthe same time that the door M is operated. The tail-piece V operates thelever XV and sounds an alarm upon the gong P. The pertion of the boxbelow the false bottom N is perforated to allow the sound from. the gongto pass out. It will be seen that by this construction the letters arefirst placed in an upper compartment, the top of which is closed byflaps that open as the doors D close and which cannot be tampered withfrom the outside because they are supported from said doors, except whenthe doors are closed, and no person can open the box from the insidewithout giving an alarm, as before described. If desired, thelevers-might be attached to a gong in any part of the house as well asor instead of the gong in the box.

WVhat I claim as my invention is 1. A letter-box consisting of twocompartments A B, separated by spring-flaps F, springdoors D closing theentrance to the upper compartment, and aseries of levers connected to apresser'bar H, whereby the flaps F are opened as the doors D close andat the same time sound an alarm upon the gong P, sub-. stantially as setforth.

2. In combination with a letter-box divided into two compartmentsseparated by springfiaps F, the upper compartment being closed byspring-doors D, the bars (I, having buttons or studs at their outerends, and slots g, formed in the flaps F, in which slots the buttonsslide, whereby the flaps can open only when the doors are nearly closed,substantially as shown and described.

3. In combination with a letter-box of the character described, aspring-door M and false bottom N, formed in one, whereby the lettersdeposited on the bottom N will be thrown upon the door M when opened,and a tailpiece connected thereto for operating a hammer and soundingthe gong P to give an alarm, substantially as shown and set forth.

In testimony whereofl have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 3d day of July, A. D.1890.

HOSEA XV. LIBBEY.

Witnesses:

CHAs. STEERE, EDWIN PLANTA.

